Posted by Phil Lee (216.250.238.63) on October 04, 2000 at 21:16:
Sent by Gus Alzona
Politicians push to end gun shows at county fairgrounds
by Myra Mensh Patner, Staff Writer, Oct. 4, 2000
Montgomery County fairgrounds officials have 11 days to announce an end to gun shows or face potential action by the state General Assembly.
That ultimatum was issued by state Sen. Leonard H. Teitelbaum in a letter mailed Monday to Ron Magaha, president of the board of directors of the Montgomery County Agricultural Center and Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.
"I am asking that you voluntarily suspend and no longer permit any gun shows at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds," wrote Teitelbaum (D-Dist. 19) of Silver Spring. "Please respond to this letter by October 15...so that your position on gun shows will be on the record before the next session of the General Assembly."
He added: "If you do not respond, I will look further to see what actions could be taken by the legislature to prevent you from having any more gun shows."
Attorney James Clifford, of the Gaithersburg firm of Debelius, Clifford & Debelius, which represents the fairgrounds, said Tuesday he had not yet received Teitelbaum's letter.
But Clifford said he received a similar letter Monday from state Sen. Brian E. Frosh in which Frosh asks the fairgrounds to reconsider its policy on gun shows.
Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Chevy Chase stated in the letter that he would not have co-sponsored a $400,000 bond bill in 1998 to renovate the fairgrounds if he had known of the gun shows.
"I am extremely unhappy that public money has gone to an institution which, by hosting gun shows, encourages the proliferation of firearms in our State," Frosh wrote.
Clifford said fairgrounds officials have been caught off-guard by an avalanche of opposition suddenly surfacing over gun shows that have taken place at the fairgrounds for a decade. The next show is scheduled for Oct. 21-22, followed by another show Jan. 6-7, 2001.
"We have gotten ourselves into the middle of a controversy we could not anticipate," Clifford said. "How could we have possibly known there would be this crusade over gun shows?"
Clifford said it is unfair for state legislators to air letters about the shows in The Gazette rather than to personally contact fairgrounds officials first.
He said legislators have never laid out standards they want to see at the privately owned, 59-acre fairgrounds, which for more than half a century has been the site of a popular August county fair.
Clifford said the fairgrounds operates a business and serves only as landlord.
All kinds of groups could object to events that regularly occur at the fairgrounds, including events such as gay rodeos, Clifford said.
"Tell us what our standards should be," Clifford said. "This gun issue is not an issue we support or are against. We're getting dragged into a national debate on something we have no position on."
Montgomery County Councilman Blair G. Ewing (D-At large) of Silver Spring took up the gun show issue last month after learning in The Gazette that the county helped match the 1998 state bond money.
Montgomery County gave $250,000, while the Montgomery County Arts Council gave $220,000. The City of Gaithersburg also gave $125,000, said Tony Tomasello, Gaithersburg's director of economic development.
In all, the fairgrounds has received roughly $1 million in state, county and City of Gaithersburg money for renovations.
Ewing is looking into county legislation on gun shows at the fairgrounds, and planning to hold a public discussion on the topic.
The newly organized Montgomery County Chapter of the Million Mom March plans to picket the Oct. 21-22 gun show at the fairgrounds, said Tierney O'Neil of Chevy Chase, chapter organizer.
The man who promotes the gun shows, Frederick-based Frank Krasner of Silverado Promotions, also has shows at the Frederick and Howard County fairgrounds, Showplace Arena in Upper Marlboro and Wicomico Youth and Civic Center in Salisbury, Md.